Thursday, September 09, 2010

Alu Gajor er Tarkari

School has started. The weather too has decided that summer vacation is over. The car windows have signs of frost in the mornings and dusk comes in early. BS started 2nd grade and seems to like her class teacher a lot.

We have the same bus driver since last year, a sweet soul who drops off BS right in front of home and always has a cheery word in the morning. This is important because our current situation is such that walking even a few yards to a bus stop and waiting for the bus to drop off in the afternoon would be very inconvenient. The driver could have easily told us to do that given that there is one more kid down the road but thankfully she didn't. Thank God and bus drivers for the small blessings they scatter our way.

The only change BS faces is in her section and hence a change in some classmates. She hasn't complained about it yet and continues to meet her old friend during recess.

The morning commute however has been worse, worser(?), worsest(?) with start of school and looks like it is me who is the most overwhelmed with the start of a new school year. There is so much to get done during a day that I just wish the earth would spin slower or the girls grow up magically and go to college, live in a dorm, make their own meals and leave me alone. It is another thing that when that time comes I will cry my heart out, write sob stories and book a vacation to Greenland.

Talking of growing up either I am going nuts or the world is no longer the place of my childhood but I seem to have weighted questions on my mind these days. Like how do I tell BS to be safe when I am not around, I meant not "not around for ever", momentarily, an hour or two or eight. Like is it okay to drop her off at one of her activity classes and then spend that 45 minutes contemplating what to make for dinner while roaming the streets with shrieking LS in the car seat.

Do you sit through your kid's activity classes or do you just drop and pick up ? What if it is a solo activity and you are not too familiar with the instructors ? What do you do, I desperately need to know.

The Alu Gajor er Tarkari/Potato and Carrot sabzi is a quick dry dish usually prepared during the winter days back home when the first sweet orange carrots of the season have made their appearance and green peas are in plenty. It would be served with rutis hot off the tawa on cold evenings or with parota/paratha on Sunday breakfast.

I made neither ruti nor parota. But I like it with rice and BS does too.

Sometimes I give BS rice mixed with a dry vegetable dish or lemon rice/fried rice for her school lunch.This was a friend's brilliant idea and works for at least one lunch a week. The Alu Gajor er tarkari works well towards that purpose. I wish I could say BS happily ate this lunch of hers. But I will be honest, she didn't. I made her eat the leftover at home though and that she happily did.

26 comments:

Hi,I luv the simplicity with which you weave your everyday stories into such a wonderful write up. I too remember mom making alu gajar bhaja during early winter months ..... the aroma all over the place. I miss the same with vegetables from supermarkets here :(

Let the kids not grow too fast sandeepa, S is going away soon by end of this month and next wenesday she and I are going to her room to put few things and take measurment etc... and the thought make me so sad and gets me all welled up inside.Here we are lucky as her school has been just less than 3 minutes by walk from our home from the time when she started school

Do all moms think alike.....I often stare blank in the middle of the night with some nightmarish thoughts what a mom of a girl always fears of.....girls grow too fast that I am feeling when I am watching my lil one...I too sometimes feel to freeze the time and enjoy the moments more with her innocence stage....amader jodi akta jini ba aladin er lamp thakto tahole ki bhalo hoto boloto...

You lucked out with the bus driver Sandeepa, compared to DD's who scares me. As for activity classes dropping them off and picking them up depends on the place. If it is a solo activity going on with several other solos then leaving them and going off should not be a problem? If it is a place with only the instructor and the kid and no other kids or instructors around you have to use your best judgement else if it were me I would drop her and leave.

Curious doesn't BS go to a private school? They have buses that drop off?

Have a few carrots lying,u have chalked out my menu for lunch today.Thanx!Sounds yummmm too.

Re:I will cry my heart out, write sob stories and book a vacation to Greenland.............U sure will,am going thru this phase now.Enjoy it while they last!I've just memories now......all good as I cherished/cherish every moment of their childhood.

Looks good....does the carrot make this sweet? I made something like this for lunch this Sunday - 1 carrot, 1 capsicum, 1 potato, 1 chunk of pumpkin and 5 mushrooms - as you can see, whatever was accessible from the crisper in quick succession! Different tempering and different masala from the usual and we were done.

K is 5 and goes to a jazz dance class down the road - in the premises of her former pre school. She has been going since she was 3.5 and loves it. Depends on the environment I guess - this one is a familar place for her since she spent 2 years there. The teachers are 2, 20-somethings - a guy and a girl - very nice people and very responsible about the kids and don't let them out of their sight - plus it is a small place and not rambling - Just 2 classes on the ground floor.

So, yes, I haven't had anyone sit through the whole time, even though I can have my babysitter do that. The 2 other kids whose Moms I know also are ok to leave the kids and come back for them after an hour.

But I recently checked out a music school since she was keen on learning vocal music. The teacher is a very nice Bengali lady, motherly almost with the young kids. But it is held in the basement of a residential two storeyed building which about 2 km from home. If and when I decide to send her there, I would make sure the babysitter waited the whole one hour. I guess it is all about comfort levels..

How comfortable are you with the set up? and the tutor? Is your daughter at an age where she can articulate any misgivings?

I'm sure whatever you do, will be the best for your child - thats what parents do. But we do our best.and worry.

Yeah you are right about the comfort level, only this class that we started recently is 45 mins long and there is no lounge or anything where I can sit the whole time with LS. Though LS has her nanny at home, now that she(LS) is getting older she doesn't want to leave me once I am home :( So she trudges along to all of BS's classes.

But last Fri, I met someone at this class who said her sons went here as kids and now they are in college. They spoke highly of all the instructors so I am guessing it should be ok. Strangely it is a Taekwondo class where they learn self defense, the irony of it.

Just to comment on the after school activity thing, I tagged with some mom-friends from my daughters school and joined activities that their kids are in. That way my kid knew at elast one or two kids in the activity. One of the moms lives near me, so we have started car-pooling, I take both kids one week, she takes them the next. We both feel we need to be there during the session, just in case theres an accident, or someone gets sick etc. But this way, we only have to do it once every two weeks. If there is no lounge, then your only option is visiting stores nearby, but then that defeats the purpose of staying there which leaves option 3 - the parking lot and a goodbook or any portable chores e.g. bills,mail etc that needs to be finished! Even if Little Sister is clingy, she needs to stay home at that point, be firm, you have the luxury of a nanny! A little kid locked in a car with you in a parking lot sounds ....pretty bad =)My $0.02

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine